On Media

Carney: 'You all ought to do your jobs'

By DYLAN BYERS

06/11/2012 02:27 PM EDT

White House press secretary Jay Carney has voiced frustration with the press for taking comments out of context last week when President Obama said "the private sector is doing fine." But Carney stopped short of promising that the Obama campaign would not take Mitt Romney's quotes out of context going forward.

"That's a rather remarkable question," Carney said during the White House briefing Monday, adding that he wouldn't "speculate" on whether the Obama team would avoid taking Mitt Romney's comments out of context. "Certainly, we believe that you all ought to do your jobs and report on context."

"I would say that our general position is that we're for truthful, accurate, factual reporting that's done in context," he said.

In an email to POLITICO, Republican National Committee deputy communications director Tim Miller accused Carney of blaming the press for Obama's remark about the private sector.

"Jay Carney might want to blame the press, but there was nothing ambiguous about President Obama's statement," Miller said. "He believes the problem facing our economy is that we don't have enough government, it's that flawed worldview that makes it important we elect a new president who knows how to actually turn the economy around."